Staff at 55 Hilda St. would have provided investigators the digital video recorder and all relevant data that captured the fatal arrest of Abdirahman Abdi but, they testified Thursday, they were never asked or served with a warrant to seize the DVR as evidence.

Special Investigations Unit agents were instead handed a copy of that data on a thumb drive after investigators arrived at the scene that day, according to testimony from Marie-Josée Houle, then-executive director of the non-profit housing corporation that operated the Hilda Street building where Abdi lived.

Houle is the first relevant witness to testify since Justice Robert Kelly ruled in favour of hearing a charter application served by Const. Daniel Montsion’s defence alleging SIU negligence allowed the original data on the DVR to be “lost forever,” and arguing the lost evidence infringed Montsion’s charter rights to a full and fair defence.

The Ottawa officer has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in the July 24, 2016 arrest of Abdi in the Hilda Street entrance, where Montsion joined Const. Dave Weir’s efforts to restrain Abdi, who court heard was resisting arrest following a series of alleged sexual assaults.

Houle testified as part of a “blended voir dire,” meaning her evidence would be heard as part of the Crown’s case against Montsion, and as part of the defence charter application to stay all charges or dismiss key evidence related to the contested video.

Investigators have since seized the original DVR, but court heard that seizure only happened two weeks ago, more than two years after charges were laid and long after the relevant data files would have been overwritten.

Houle testified she was headed out of town that “sunny Sunday afternoon” in July 2016 when she received a text from a tenant erroneously reporting “someone had been shot at the building, there was chaos and I needed to go there right away.”

She then took a call from a maintenance worker alerting her that police were requesting access to the building’s surveillance system.

She took a discreet back entrance when she arrived to the crowded scene with Jean-Michel Bedard, another Hilda Street administrator who is expected to testify next week.

The two watched the video from the surveillance system together until she “had seen enough,” then Houle waited while Bedard extracted a copy of the DVR data for investigators.

“I was surprised it took a long time to make,” Houle recalled.

Court has heard investigators encountered all sorts of technical issues, which make up a significant basis for the defence’s charter motion, along with allegations the SIU mishandled the data and failed to properly store the evidence.

A video expert enlisted by the Crown, who is also set to testify as part of the charter motion, concluded in his report the video files were likely “corrupted” during the original export process.

Houle made two other copies, knowing the video data would be overwritten after the device’s three-month retention period, and stored them with the corporation’s lawyer.

Those “red and green thumb drives” have since been entered into evidence as one of multiple renderings of the video, which have been at issue since the trial’s early days.

Houle, who has since moved on to a different job, said she “had a feeling” she would be subpoenaed after reading a news report on the trial in early February, which detailed the defence’s questions over “the validity of the video” and the claims it had been “tampered with.”

Further testimony relevant to the charter motion is expected to be heard next week.

Montsion, who remains suspended with pay from the Ottawa Police Service, is listed in the so-called “Sunshine List” of public sector salary disclosure released this week.

Montsion earned $112,000 in 2018 while under suspension and awaiting trial. The officer, then a member of the direct action response team, was placed on administrative duties following the July 24, 2016 incident, and has been suspended with pay since criminal charges were laid on March 6, 2017.

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